


xxii. drowning

by icymapletree



Series: febuwhump/febufluff 2020 [22]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Drowning, Febuwhump, Fluff, Gen, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Whump, public pools
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22855924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icymapletree/pseuds/icymapletree
Summary: Peter sits with his legs in the water, tossing the dive rings for Morgan, who enthusiastically goes under and grabs them. Eventually, a mother sits next to him, doing the same thing for her daughter.“She’s a really cute kid,” the mom remarks while both of the kids are underwater.“Yeah,” Peter nods, “She’s my little sister. She can be a pain in my butt though.” He looks over at the other little girl. She looks younger than Morgan, and she has really pretty dark curly hair. “Is that your kid?”“Yep. She’s a pain in my butt too,” she says, and Peter smiles and tosses the ring that Morgan brought over.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: febuwhump/febufluff 2020 [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618837
Comments: 14
Kudos: 254





	xxii. drowning

Peter’s never been a fan of public pools. In his head, they’re kind of like a bath for the entire city - one where people can pee without anyone else knowing about it. And then, ‘anyone else’ ends up swimming in it. Or accidentally drinking it.

Yet here he is, standing in the grass of one of New York’s finest public pools, asking Morgan to hold her arms out as he sprays her with sunscreen. The sun is beating down on them, making their skin hot to the touch.

Peter can already tell that he’s getting burnt - never mind that it’s only been fifteen minutes since they set their stuff down.

“Close your eyes,” Peter says, putting away the spray bottle and squirting the tube of sunscreen into his hand.

He rubs his hands together to warm up the lotion, but it still makes Morgan flinch when he presses his palms to her face. Tony comes trudging back from the other side of the pool with a scowl on his face. 

“Where are the free lounge chairs you saw?” Peter asks, using a hair tie to pull Morgan’s hair back.

Tony shrugs. “Apparently, telling people that you’re the ‘savior of the universe’ doesn’t compel them to give up their spare chairs.”

“Mr. Stark, we’re in New York. Dudes on nearly every street corner claim to be the ‘savior of the universe.’”

“But I’m the _real_ one.” 

“Yeah, but they don’t know that,” Peter says, laying a towel down to sit on. “As far as they know, you’re a cosplayer.”

“What’s a… cos-a-player?” Morgan asks.

“I’ll take you to Comic-Con sometime and we can find out, how does that sound?”

“Good,” she nods, and Tony rolls his eyes, “But I’m ready to swim now.”

“Me too,” Peter agrees. “You coming with, Mr. Stark?”

“I think I’m gonna soak in the sun for a little bit, but I’ll join you guys later.”

“You’re such a _grandpa._ ”

“I’m too young to be a grandpa.”

“You’re old, Mr. Stark. Accept it.” He kneels down to Morgan’s level. “Ready to swim, Mo?”

She nods excitedly and runs off toward the pool. Peter runs after her with a wide smile, slowing both of them down when they reach the pavement of the pool deck.

“I wanna go off the diving board!”

“Go for it, Mo. I’ll wait for you.”

“No, no, no,” she smiles, “I want you to go too. Will you go first?”

Peter looks at the long line of impatient kids behind the diving boards and shrugs. “Sure. Why not?”

Morgan takes his hand and tugs him over. She waits with a serious face, tapping her foot. Peter can’t help but notice that the resemblance to her mother is uncanny. 

When it’s finally their turn, Morgan gives him a playful shove toward the steps going up to the board. “Don’t forget to wait until I’m at the side to go off,” he reminds her, and she nods as he climbs up.

“Do a flip!” Morgan calls. Peter’s never one to disappoint, so he goes to the edge of the board and flips into the water, easy as pie. When he resurfaces, regardless of how bland that trick is compared to what he is able to do, Morgan is cheering. 

Peter salutes, and swims to the ladder, shaking his hair out. When he climbs out, Morgan gives him a thumbs up and does a cannonball. She swims to the ladder, just like Peter did, and motions for him to crouch down.

She whispers in his ear, “How come you didn’t do something cool? You do better stuff as Spidey.”

“Gotta keep that secret, remember?”

Her eyes widen and she nods. “Let’s get in the pool now.”

“Okay, sounds good.”

They splash around, playing mermaids for awhile. Peter has been named King Triton, and Morgan is - of course - Ariel. The game continues until Morgan requests that they get out the dive rings.

Peter sits with his legs in the water, tossing them for Morgan who enthusiastically goes under and grabs them. Eventually, a mother sits next to him, doing the same thing for her daughter.

“She’s a really cute kid,” the mom remarks while both of the kids are underwater.

“Yeah,” Peter nods, “She’s my little sister. She can be a pain in my butt though.” He looks over at the other little girl. She looks younger than Morgan, and she has really pretty dark curly hair. “Is that your kid?”

“Yep. She’s a pain in my butt too,” she says, and Peter smiles and tosses the ring that Morgan brought over.

“How old is your sister?”

“Seven,” he nods, “How old is your daughter?”

“Six. She just learned how to swim, but she’s my little fish,” the mom chuckles. 

They sit there for awhile, continuing their small talk. At some point later, Morgan tugs on Peter’s foot and claims that it’s time to go do something else.

“It was nice to meet you!” Peter calls after the mom as he dives in to play another game of pretend - this time one where they are dolphins.

Peter learns that he can do a very impressive dolphin impression that makes Morgan squeal in delight. He does this every time that they pop up for air.

“What else are we going to do as dolphins?” he asks.

“Well, I’m the princess dolphin. And you’re the prince dolphin. So, we have to go to the castle.”

“Where is the castle?”

“The other side of the pool. Petey, you don’t know where you live?”

“Of course I do! I’m just making sure.” Peter winks, and dives under with Morgan following after him.

He sees the little girl from before, swimming toward the drop off of the diving well. She tests the waters a little bit, swimming toward the deepest part of the pool, which would be fine, but she starts to sink, slipping down the edge. Peter kicks after her, he knows that she’s in trouble and she’s likely in the lifeguards’ blind spot.

He knows what it’s like to drown - utter despair, your lungs taking in air when there isn’t any to take in. He barely knows this girl - heck, he’s only talked to her mother, but if he can save her from a horrific fate, he will. He pretends that it’s Morgan that he’s saving. This is someone’s daughter and someone’s sister.

He kicks harder and harder, using his arms to propel his body further. Black spots fill in the sides of his vision, and he starts to get a little lightheaded, but he pushes harder. 

When his arms scoop up her body, she seems lifeless in his arms. He kicks toward the surface, and once he breaks it, he calls for help with the remaining oxygen in his lungs. He shoves her body onto the pavement as gently as he can and quickly climbs after her, and a lifeguard is there waiting.

Three long whistles sound, clearing the pool, and the mother from before comes running onto the scene. The lifeguard - who looks younger than Peter - starts to administer CPR and rescue breaths. 

The mother is hysterical, but the girl gasps back to life - right as Peter catches Tony out of the corner of his eye. Pride is written all over his face, and Peter realizes that although this isn’t the hardest save he’d ever have to do, it’s just as important.

He has the mother right here in front of him, proof that this girl has people who care about her and those people would be devastated to lose her.

She looks frail, and can’t stop coughing, but the gratitude is right there in her eyes. Peter’s still, he can’t help but stay like a statue even as the girl is brought to the ambulance that had arrived.

“Thank you,” the mom says as she follows after the medics, “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

Peter gives a small nod, still without words. There are thank yous from the lifeguards but he doesn’t remember much as he walks back to the camp that they had set up earlier - somehow that feels like a different day - and sees Morgan and Tony waiting for him. They both wrap him up in a hug.

“Are you okay?” Tony whispers in his ear, “You seem pretty shaken.”

“Yeah, yeah. She reminded me of Morgan, is all.”

Tony pulls away for a second, studying the look in Peter’s eyes before going back into the hug. “I’m so proud of you,” he says finally.

When they pack up and head out, Peter can’t help but think about all of the other families - with Morgans of their own - that didn’t have a superhero to rescue them.

**Author's Note:**

> hope that you enjoyed! come talk to me on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/icymapletree)


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